During the festival, the streets of the small town of Stratford are lined with cars, blocks away from the small park where the festival is held. RV’s and tents surround the park as people stay for the whole three-day festival going from July 6 to 8. License plates indicate people traveling from Minnesota and Missouri, or as far away as California or Montana to listen to bluegrass in the park.

The Stratford Bluegrass Festival is surprisingly big for its venue. It is a three-day festival with 7 artists, raffles, a parade, and a community church service.

The group responsible for this festival is Stratford Stride, a community-minded nonprofit in Stratford. The man responsible for most of the organizing, booking, and advertising is Stratford Stride member, Aaron Bradley.

Bradley shared that attendance for this year’s festival is way up from previous years.

A large crowd gathers under some shady trees to listen to an afternoon of music in Stratford.

“We’ve had some good headliners, Doyle Lawson has brought a lot of people in,” Bradley said.

Other than minor changes to the concession stand items, Bradley says this is the same old festival which has been so popular the past three decades.

People flooding into Stratford, more than doubling the size of this small Iowa town, shows the popularity among Bluegrass fans pretty well. However, the festival also seems to be popular with the performers.

Carrie Baker, guitarist with the The Baker Family Band and four year veteran of the Stratford Bluegrass festival, says she loves coming to Stratford to perform.

“Here there’s always a great crowd of people and everyone is super friendly. There’s also great pie at the concession stand,” Baker said.

— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Chris Anderson Musicians and bluegrass enthusiasts gathered to play and listen to the music in Stratford Park Saturday.

Baker says her family performs for many other festivals across the country but she especially enjoys the atmosphere in Stratford.

“The fun thing about this festival that no other festival has, and we travel from Maine to California, is the parade. So, we always have a good time at the parade,” Baker said.

Although he didn’t quite know why, Bluegrass fan Daniel Ketterer, says he loves the atmosphere at Stratford and similar festivals.

“That’s one thing about things like this, the people are more open. I mean you go to a rock concert they don’t want to give you the time of day,” Ketterer said.

Ketterer Traveled from Des Moines and says this is his first year at the Stratford Bluegrass Festival. He says he originally came out to hear Doyle Lawson, the headliner Saturday night.

“Once I saw his name, first two words that came to mind were ‘Road Trip!’, “Ketterer said.

Ketterer came to Stratford with his mandolin and hoped to jam with other fans of the music.

“As my skills[on the mandolin] improve I get more interested in the music,” Ketterer said.

Ketterer does much to personify the unique atmosphere at Stratford’s annual Bluegrass festival, which is a mix of Midwestern friendliness and a deep appreciation of Bluegrass music.